UMUR "Demo 1987" is a remixed and remastered EP version of US death/thrash metal act Malevolent Creation´s first demo from 1987. The original demo from 1987 featured three tracks and a total playing time of 8:35 minutes. This 2011 reissue of the demo features six tracks. The original versions of "Sacrificial Annihilation", "The Traitor Must Pay", and "Confirmed Kill", and the remixed versions of the two former and a remastered "live in the studio" version of "Confirmed Kill".

Stylistically Malevolent Creation pretty much found their signature brutal thrash/death metal style right away, alhough lead vocalist Brett Hoffmann has a more thrashy raw delivery than a death metal growling style. So this is not death metal, but rather an aggressive and brutal take on thrash metal. "Sacrificial Annihilation" pretty much sounds like it would on the band´s 1991 debut full-length studio album "The Ten Commandments", although more unpolished and less brutal. But the ideas and the structures are there.

The two other tracks on the demo are "The Traitor Must Pay" and "Confirmed Kill". None of them were included on subsequent album releases in the form they are presented here, but the former features some of the riffs and structure of what would become "Remnants of Withered Decay" (from "The Ten Commandments"). "Confirmed Kill" would be re-recorded and included on Malevolent Creation´s 2000 seventh full-length studio album "Envenomed" (well actually not on the original version of the album, the track is only available on the reissue of the album, which is titled "Envenomed II"), but sounds quite different from the almost crossover thrash metal sounding demo version.

The original versions of the three tracks features a relatively thin and trembly sounding production job, which isn´t unusual considering that this is a thrash metal demo from 1987, while the remixed/remastered versions of the tracks sound a lot more powerful, well defined, and brutal. It´s interesting how modern technology can sometimes bring out things in old recordings which you hadn´t noticed was there. I´m usually not a huge fan of remixes, but in this case it actually makes sense. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.